Gabbert’s return: This past week, Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley said that he wanted Gabbert to be more aggressive and throw the ball down the field. This, of course, was in direct contradiction to his credo for the team (“It’s all about the ball.”). It’s understandable that Gabbert would be hesitant to take chances with that hanging over his head, so Bradley let his quarterback know that he could cut it loose. Gabbert did, at least more often than in the past. Gabbert showed some mild improvement in approach, but not in productivity. He finished the game 17 for 32, 179 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown. This certainly wasn’t a game that will earn Gabbert any more believers. As we saw last year, when you compare Gabbert to Luck on the same field, the difference is remarkable.

Gabbert was also not helped by the receivers. Cecil Shorts dropped four passes himself, two of which wound up in the hands of Colt’s defenders.

Offensive line play: The pass protection continues to be spotty and the line didn’t open up many holes for the running game. Luke Joeckel did appear to play better, but the interior line hasn’t gotten any better. I don’t expect that it will the rest of this year. One puzzling play had the Jaguars running up the middle on a 3rd and 1. Maurice Jones-Drew was stopped short and the Jaguars punted. Why run behind the weakest part of the line? I just don’t like the theory.

Pass Pressure: The Jaguars actually applied some pressure on Andrew Luck, but Luck is one of those gifted quarterbacks who just has a sense of the pressure and an ability to buy enough time to deliver a pass. He’s John Elway-like in that regard. Both Tyson Alualu and Russell Allen recorded sacks.

Star of the Game (Jaguars): Will Blackmon. This is almost entirely based on the first quarter when Blackmon had one interception called back on an offsides penalty, then an interception that counted. Playing in secondary that, at times, included three rookies, Blackmon made plays. He even stopped a touchdown in the fourth quarter when the game was far from in doubt.

Stat of the Game: At one point late in the third quarter the Colts had outgained the Jaguars 363-70.

Son of Stat of the Game: In the third quarter alone, the Jaguars were outgained 125 to -2.

Revenge of Son of Stat of the Game: In each of the Jaguars two home games, they scored first, then didn’t score again. Final scores 28-2 and 37-3.

2 thoughts on “Takeaways from Jaguars 37-3 loss to Colts”

Mr. Wiki says that the most points ever scored by an NFL team in one game is 73 – DaBears. I believe, if they want to, the Broncos can break that record against, uh, well, against us. Not complaining about our defense – if they play 50 minutes out of every game, they are bound to give up some points.

Cole is, of course, correct about running up the middle – I also miss Greg Jones blocking people as a fullback is supposed to do. Our fullbacks right now are hurrying through the hole – not hitting anyone, but they sure look good getting through the hole while someone on the defense comes from the side to tackle MOJO. Perhaps we could put a tackle (who can run a bit) in the backfield to have a better blocker.

Big Jags fan from day zero – just a real TOUGH start to the season. Hope the Regime decides how to best use their first good draft pick.

Gabbert played 100% better, even with the pics. Much better mix of offensive plays. Like rolling BG out, should do more of that. If this was BG’s first rookie start, and we hadn’t already seen what we’ve already seen, I’d be mildly encouraged. Way too little, way too late.

Everything else, except MJD, also encouraging. MJD is not right. He’s toughing through two injuries and it shows. Maybe give him a couple weeks off. It is in our interest for him to play well enough to increase his value. Let him heal. I like that the defense hasn’t quit, they keep playing.